Congress leader Pawan Khera said after the BJP announced the first list of its 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha election 2024, it became clear why Gautam Gambhir announced in the morning that he wanted to quit politics. “When Gautam Gambhir ji, Jayant Sinha sahib announced back to back that they wanted to quit politics or electoral politics, we did not understand what was happening. Were they not happy with the working method of the party? But now that the list has come, many names have been dropped. Is the BJP leadership not happy with the work of those sitting MPs? Then who will answer to the people for the last five years? Did PM Modi think that they would not even win using PM Modi’s name? Every time PM Modi comes to seek votes in his name…The BJP has to explain why the sitting MPs have been dropped,” Pawan Khera asked.
“Meenakshi Lekhi, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur could not have won the election on your name? And what pressure Tenji ji has on you that he is again fielded from Kheri after his son mowed down farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri,” Pawan Khera asked.
BJP on Saturday announced 195 names and five of them were from Delhi which saw a major shake-up. The BJP candidates from Delhi include Praveen Khandelwal (Chandni Chowk), Manoj Tiwari (North East Delhi), Bansuri Swaraj (New Delhi), Kamaljeet Sehrawar (West Delhi), Ramvir Singh Bidhuri (South Delhi). Meenakshi Lekhi, Harsh Vardhan, Parvesh Verma and Ramesh Bidhuri — the sitting MPs — have been dropped.
Trinamool leader Mahua Moitra slammed the first list for the paltry number of women. “BJP announces 195 candidates of which 28 are women. A measly 14%. Whatever happened to the 33% reservation? Where are their vandanas now? Where is Nari Shakti? @BJP are a bunch of misogynistic hypocrites. Also bald faced liars,” Mahua Moitra posted on X.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the BJP announced the list of candidates for 195 seats where the BJP has a slight chance of winning. “The first list shows that the BJP has accepted its defeat. The list has created a deep disappointment among the BJP workers as those who did not do any work in their constituency and were not hoping to get fielded again have got tickets,” Akhilesh said.
East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir on Saturday morning said he requested party chief JP Nadda to relieve him of his political duties so that he could focus on his cricket commitments. The first list does not have any name for his constituency yet. So it is not yet clear whether the party has accepted his request or not.
